Fruit bearing plants are often staked to prevent the plants, when heavy with fruit, from breaking or falling over toward the ground. If the plants break, the fruit will not properly develop. If the plants fall over, the fruit will touch the ground and will rot. In addition, other types of plants are staked to assist the plants in growing vertically or in another desired direction.
In order to stake a plant, a plant stake is inserted into the soil adjacent the plant and a tie is used to couple the plant to the stake. Typically, a plant tie is a piece of string or cloth. Tying a plant to a stake with one or more ties is generally a cumbersome process. It is difficult to hold the stem of the plant (which has a tendency to fall away from the stake) against the stake while the plant tie is secured around the stem and the stake. At times, especially when using a string to tie a plant to a stake, the two hands of the gardener can seem inadequate to hold the plant stem adjacent to the stake while securing the tie thereabout. Also, the relatively small width of a string when tightly tied or twisted against the plant stem can cause injury to the plant.
As the plant grows, it is often necessary to provide plant ties along the stem at a different location, and the entire process of tying the plant to the stake must be repeated. In addition, conventional plant ties are unsightly and detract from the appearance of the garden in which they are used. Therefore, it is desirable to have an effective, affordable, and aesthetically pleasing apparatus for securing a plant to a stake or post to facilitate effective growth of the plant.